Idaho School District, 45 Minutes from Police, Buys Guns to Protect Students

If any sort of school shooting took place at the Garden Valley School district in Idaho it would take at least 45 minutes for police to even show up on the scene. School officials thought this was simply too long to wait like sitting ducks should unthinkable ever happen.

So they decided to buy some guns and ammo, and are currently training willing teachers and staff to protect themselves and the students.

Noticing school shootings across the country and curtain things they had in common, the district realized that having good guys with guns on the scene either completely deterred shootings in the first place or brought the shootings to a quick end.

Limited funds have not allowed the school district to post police officers or security guards at the schools to protect its more than 300 students, so this option will at least allow the schools to be prepared.

The school board approved this month purchasing guns to remain locked inside the school and trained six employees to use the weapons in an emergency.

“I hope we never have to use them,” said Alan Ward, a school board member who has been discussing this option with the school for two years. “But in the event something did happen, we wanted to be prepared.”

Garden Valley’s actions are just one of many solutions schools across the nation have adopted to protect their campuses. Some have installed metal detectors, while others have expanded school resource officers to secure not only high schools but also middle and elementary schools.

Details about the Garden Valley School district’s plan to buy guns and train staff is limited, and rightly so. Information about how many guns are being purchased, where they will be locked up, and who will be responsible for them is reserved for the school’s themselves.

What is known is that about $3,500 is being spent on guns and ammunition, and some of the firearms have been donated by the community. That’s my kind of community,and props to them for being so gracious.

Of course there are a few outspoken anti-gunners who oppose this idea, and the Guardian was sure to quote one.

Even with training, there is no guarantee teachers and staff will prevent fatalities in a high-stakes situation, said Allison Anderman, a staff attorney with Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit opposed to arming teachers.

She added that housing guns in schools could create a chilling effect for students who may be less inclined to speak out knowing that the teacher could be armed.

“Just having people armed doesn’t make a school safer,” Anderman said.

So speaking of guarantees, I wonder if Mz. Anderman can guarantee the police will be on the scene if an incident ever happened. Can she guarantee the safety of those unprotected children if a madman with a gun ever became a threat?

Absolutely not. What she IS guaranteeing by trying to strip the school district of its right to protect itself is that the teachers and students will all be sitting ducks if some idiot ever tried to harm them. Hats off to the school district for actually trying to DO something about safety instead of hiding behind a politically driven cause to strip more Americans of their right to protect themselves.

She says the students will not speak out because they will be cowering in fear knowing their teachers may be armed? Is this how she feels about children interacting with police officers as well? She knows they are armed too right?

It’s almost as if the insinuation is being made children will be justified in being scared of their teachers flying off the handle, and that trained staff will not be able to handle themselves or their emotions should a student misbehave.

What she completely ignores is the fact that the Sandy Hook situation only ended when good guys with guns came onto the scene. And those children that were left defenseless and unprotected will never be able to speak out again.